Three Boys Brewery recently took home the big Champion Exhibitor award, as well as 12 medals and a trophy at the New Zealand Beer Awards. Cityscape caught up with boss man Ralph Bungard.

How did it feel to be awarded champion? It felt amazing! The Brewers’ Guild Beer Awards is a really big deal in our NZ industry. It’s the only awards where you really get to put yourself up for comparison to all the brewers in Aotearoa. To win anything on the night is an honour and something that brewers in New Zealand really look to judge where they are at in terms of beer quality. On the night we were just so excited about all the medals that we had received for the beers that we entered in the competition that we weren’t really concentrating when it came to the big one at the end of the night. To hear our name announced and see Three Boys on the big screen was a real surprise and such a treat.

What’s your secret? No secret really. We have been doing this for a long time now, 18 years. We really take pride in our quality and consistency, and we always do pretty well in the awards. We have pushed hard for this top spot trophy a couple of times over our history, but got there this time. We are very happy to be listed on the champion brewers trophy along with some other fantastic New Zealand breweries.

Tell us about the trophy-winning Three Boys Lager. It was pretty exciting winning this trophy. The way the awards work, sort of like wine awards, is that there may be two golds, no silver and one bronze awarded, for example, or even no medals at all in a category. The trophy, however, is awarded for the best of the best in the class. We got a gold medal and the trophy in this International Lager category. Funnily enough, it’s a really coveted trophy amongst brewers, as being a lager, brewers would say “there is no place to hide” when it comes to quality. The beer must be perfectly balanced and fault-free to even start to get a look in with the judges. Making a perfect lager is often seen as a brewery that has all its quality and technical skills in order. On top of that, you are competing directly with some of the big multinational brewers who have made their business on producing this style. It’s a great win.

What’s the perfect food to enjoy with a lager? Lager is traditionally gentle and balanced. It’s not designed to be the lion on the table, beating up on all the other flavours. For that reason, I would say it’s one of the beers that is simply designed to be either enjoyed without food or with food that has really dominating flavours. Think either a delicious quencher at the end of a summer’s day or a refresher when your mouth is being bombarded by hot and spicy.

You had some strong competition from Beer Baroness on awards night – is there a friendly rivalry there? Hate those guys! Nah, just kidding. We love the Beer Baroness team and have a lot to do with them, work-wise and socially. They have really lifted a class in the last couple of years, thanks largely to their fantastic brew team. To be honest, if they had won the Champion Trophy on the night, we would have been over the moon for them. We know enough to know that everything has to fall in place at just the right time for the award to land in your favour, and it could have easily done so for them. Likewise for Altitude in Queenstown, another brewery that did remarkably well and one that we also have a great relationship with. It was fantastic to see Te Waipounamu brewers really shining.

What is it about this city and brewing? Is there something in the water? Ha! That’s a good one! Brewing is so much about water quality and historically many beer styles have developed largely because of the water chemistry of the region; think pilsner and British pale ales as great examples. In many respects that is also true for Ōtautahi; we have great groundwater that is a good base to brew all sorts of styles from. Less literally, I do think that there is a long tradition of brewing out of Canterbury because we were the malt-growing centre of Aotearoa. What makes our city a great brewing city now is the water, the tradition, and the passion of those involved in the industry. We are a city of independent brewers. We don’t have a multinational brewer in Ōtautahi anymore. In some ways, that means brewing in Christchurch belongs to the locals of Christchurch – that has got to make things pretty cool.

Do you think it’s time Christchurch officially took the craft brew crown from Wellington and Auckland? Did they ever have their hands on the crown? Or was that just their PR spin? We have been just too busy making good beer in a city where we had other things that took centre stage. I think that whenever someone takes the time to do the numbers, Ōtautahi has always been the brewing capital of NZ, the real OG! What we are not so good at is blowing that trumpet.

What do you think of our local brew bar scene? Ōtautahi has some amazing drinking spots ranging from full-on craft beer havens to cafés that now stock only local craft beer in their fridges. It’s a great turn-around and an indication of how good our city and region has become at supporting locals. Good locals supporting good local hospitality, supporting good local producers. That is a dream environment for our business. It’s great for the community and it’s great for the environment. For the local economy it makes sense – local hospo buying our beer, we buy ingredients locally and pay our staff, and they go out and eat, drink, get their car fixed or get their house painted. It just works for everyone. Environmentally it’s a win too; we really don’t need to be shipping 95% water around the country or even the world.

Do you ever dabble in drinking wine or spirits, or are you very much a beer man? I do love beer. The variation in styles is just so good that there is always a beer to match any occasion. I do love wine too, and there’s plenty of that to love in Aotearoa. And I do love whisky, Irish whisky in particular, but I don’t drink much of that. My boys have got into the habit of buying me one bottle on Father’s Day and another on my birthday, and that seems to be just right for the year. But having said all that, if I was heading to a desert island and could only take one tipple, then that would have to be tea! There are very few drinks that can quench a raging thirst like beer can, but tea is one. Luckily I have a good tea supplier, so when I have a cuppa tea in hand, thinking about beer, I’m in my happy place.

Hazy seems to have been the style of 2022 – what do you think is coming next? Lagers are back, for sure. And craft lagers are the way for 2023. But also back in vogue are some of the more original styles, the wheat beers, the traditional British bitters and the old-skool North American IPAs along the lines of the early days of craft brewing. If I was to pick one for Three Boys, our wheat beer is bangin’. It’s going to be the beer to find in 2023.

Can you let us in on what new beers Three Boys are working on? We are always working on something new and often several new things. Beer is great like that, the options are almost endless. We recently released a tea beer called Harvest Ale. We used an apricot-infused tea as a base for a classic NZ Pale Ale. It was amazing. This time of year though, we are thinking along getting more sour beers on the brew. Sours are great for the warmer months and they really create a great base to blend in some unusual flavours – look out for a cucumber melon sour this spring.

You’ve got friends coming from out of town. Where do you go and what would you do to show off the city in…

…two hours: A drop into Three Boys and a quick flick through the tunnel, Lyttelton and up over the hills to Sumner and back to Coolston.

…a half-day: Central city, Arts Centre, Art Gallery, the Gardens, Riverside Market and the SALT District.

…24 hours: All of the above but topped, tailed and punctuated by a breakfasts, lunches and dinners and drinks at the city’s fantastic collection of restaurants, cafés and wineries that have grown the beauty of not only our suburban landscape but the central city’s semi-industrial periphery. At the same time as making plans for a return trip to catch so much that would be missed.

Where do you go to…

…wine (or beer) and dine with friends: To be honest, almost invariably we go to the businesses that have Three Boys. Support your supporters, I reckon.

…morning coffee: I think I mentioned that I’m more of a tea person, but I do love a good coffee and if you want a good coffee city, then Ōtautahi is roasting! I like to spread my coffee love amongst those great local roasters whenever I can.

…blow off some steam: They do blow off steam for you at Ferrymead Heritage Park. But, seriously, how can you go past the Port Hills for a day-walk or the Alps for a fish, hunt or tramp. Then there is the hallowed ground of Heathcote Cricket Club. I’ve certainly blown some steam off on the field there over the years, and still do.

…get away from it all: You can’t beat the mountains, rivers and bush, hunting, tramping and fishing for cleansing the mind. We are really in an amazing location for that, living here in Ōtautahi and Te Waipounamu in general.

threeboysbrewery.co.nz